When I was a child I wanted to be several things including a corporate lawyer, a script writer/film maker and an entrepreneur.

I was so confident that I could achieve anything and everything and that nothing would hold me back. This confidence was evident in my teenage years as shown in my yearbook where I was described as “determined.”

At the beginning of September my friend and I were talking and she said that 2017 had been a great year for us. And even though I agreed I did not really feel that way. That conversation led me to really consider and ponder on what “a great year” actually meant to me.

During this reflection I realised that the reason I felt that 2017 had not been a great year for me was because I was focusing and dwelling on the negative. I was focusing on the challenges I had faced and the goals I had not yet met. I was blinded by negativity.

I don’t know about you, but the idea of leading a healthy lifestyle had never really appealed to me. I was much more interested in working out sporadically and eating food that tasted good – regardless of the health effects.

It was only in the beginning of 2017 that I became motivated enough to set myself the goal of leading a much healthier lifestyle. And so my action plan began.

My expectations did not match my reality. I did not know that I would be required to work on the weekends and have my days off during the week. This made exploring Shanghai and meeting other foreigners that much harder as people had different schedules. When I was able to go out, some of my friends were not.

From a young age I became very familiar with the concept of ‘good financial management.’ My parents had taught me the importance of controlled spending and diligent saving along with many other important financial principles.

But I know that this was not the case for many others. In fact during university I encountered a lot of people that consistently told me that ‘saving was just too difficult,’ and I began to realise that many people did not really understand how to properly plan and manage their finances.